In previous posts I described my disappointment with President Obama's shift from a liberal campaign to a moderate presidency. In this post I discuss another moderate: Robert Reich.

In 2000 he published The Future of Success. In it he claimed: "Most of us are more prosperous than ever before. We own more. We're able to get terrific deals." And: "Today we can see the emergence of a vibrant new economy brimming with innovations. ... Jobs will be abundant, many of them exciting and well paid."

Robert Reich

Reich was wrong. He was the Secretary of Labor for President Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He had a unique opportunity to help the common worker. But he missed it. Vast segments of our population were experiencing employment and income decline. He should have fought for the middle class when he had the chance. Instead he predicted utopia. Oops!

In 2007 he published Supercapitalism. His thesis is summarized here: "The real explanation [for the widespread decline of economic prosperity] involves the way technologies have empowered consumers and investors to get better and better deals–and how these deals, in turn, have sucked relative equality and stability, and well as other social values, out of the system."

Reich does not admit he got it wrong back in 2000. He just accepts the miserable plight of common workers as a fact. Then he blames technology for our woes. He dismisses other explanations as "mostly nonsense." Among the nonsense explanations he specifically sites are: greed, globalization, financial deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy, etc. Here is an example of how he defends egregious, greedy executive pay practices:

"But the super-rich are not at fault. The market is generating these outlandish [high compensation] results. And the market is being driven by us as consumers and investors."

"Boards are willing to pay more and more for CEOs and other top executives because their rivals are paying more and more for them. And all are willing to pay more because, in effect, consumers and investors are pressuring them to."

This is typical "moderate-talk." It's like doublespeak. First he liberally denounces income disparity, then conservatively blames technology, not board directors or policymakers, and certainly not economists.

Reich published Aftershock in 2010. Here he defends his 2007 thesis that technology was the culprit, but now adds globalization: "The underlying problem emerged around 1980, when the American middle class started being hit by the double whammy of global competition and labor-replacing technologies." But in 2007 he dismissed globalization as a cause of our woes, and offers no explanation for the change of tune. And he doesn't explain how he missed the demise of the middle class as Labor Secretary, or why he predicted utopia in 2000.Reich further revises his story: "Instead of implementing a new set of policies that would enable the middle class to flourish under these very different circumstances, political leaders ... embraced deregulation and privatization, attacked and diminished labor unions, cut taxes on the wealthy, and shredded social safety nets." On the one hand, Reich clearly makes a liberal statement here. But on the other hand, in 2007 he thoroughly discredited these types of liberal policies as "mostly nonsense." Will the real Robert Reich please stand up?

My conclusion is that you can't trust a moderate. They say liberal things one day, and conservative things the next. I should be happy that Reich has now embraced the need for liberal policies that directly benefit the middle class. But I can't help but wonder what side of the fence he will be on tomorrow.